Filippo Grandi, Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for the Palestinian refugees "UNRWA" praised the initiatives and humanitarian projects undertaken by the UAE in general and Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation in particular on the humanitarian scene domestically, regionally and internationally especially its efforts in fighting poverty, famine, emergency relief aids and development of vulnerable communities facing many challenges, most notably education and health.

The "UNRWA" commissioner said, in a statement following his meeting with His Excellency Mohammed Hajji Al Khouri, Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation Director-General, attended by Ambassador Peter Ford, representative of the "UNRWA" Commissioner-General, at the headquarters of the Foundation, that Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation became a milestone in the field of philanthropy by virtue of its distinguished humanitarian projects, adding that it is the first Foundation to provide urgent relief to the Palestinian people during the recent Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.
During the meeting, the two sides discussed the situation in the Gaza Strip as a result of the Israeli blockade, with the aim of carrying out the project of adopting and running Bait Lahia Elementary Boys School in the Strip to be funded by Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation while the official opening of this project is expected to be during the current month.
The school comprises of 32 classrooms which accommodate 1288 students in the morning shift and the same number of boys and girls during the afternoon shift from the first to fourth grades, and the number of teachers in the school amounts to 37 teachers in addition to 17 part time teachers.

The "UNRWA" delegation explained to Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation Director General the implications of the aggravating humanitarian conditions in Gaza Strip due to the difficulty of entering the building materials, which increases the suffering of people who are in dire need to these materials to rebuild their destroyed homes.

For his part, Mohammed Hajji Al Khouri, emphasized that the efforts exerted by Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation in Palestine are part of its commitment towards brotherly Palestinian people in view of their difficult economic conditions. The Foundation would spare no effort to enhance the relationship with the global institutions and organizations to execute more projects in support of the weak and the needy in order to alleviate their suffering, he said.

It's worth mentioning that the "UNRWA" is an agency concerned with providing education, health care, social services and emergency aid to about four million Palestinian refugees living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. The "UNRWA" staff amounts to nearly 24,000 employees, most of them are Palestinian refugees themselves who work directly for the benefit of their communities as teachers, doctors, nurses and social workers.